Auto expos to drive models away?

Jan 11, 2015, 06:15 IST
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Agencies

No skin show likely at Shanghai autoshow, as the Chinese government is concerned about vulgarity in society

Shanghai: Female models in tight dresses and skimpy miniskirts may go missing from one of Asia’s premier car exhibitions in Shanghai this year. The Chinese government is concerned about “increasing vulgarity in society”. A crackdown on pornography and freedom of expression more generally has intensified since President Xi Jinping assumed office in 2013.

Models pose next to an SUV at a Shanghai auto show. pic/afp

Victor Yang, spokesman of Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd, said, “We have received verbal notice from the Shanghai autoshow organiser that no models can be hired from April 20.”

An official at the Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai, one of the main organisers of the show, said such a restriction was “under discussion”.

Auto promoters in China, as in many other places, often employ models to jazz up their stands. Government censors faced a backlash from Chinese Internet users this month when a television drama about a Chinese empress was scrubbed of all footage showing actresses’ cleavage.